It would probably be a big pay *raise* for Smith, yet they could still pay her about the same as they paid Butler and still get a helluva good coach. OTOH, I think they'd have to pay Mitchell or Becky Hammon a lot more to get them there. They'd be wise to take Smith. Very.

_________________Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohows permanent.
It takes 3 years to build a team and 7 to build a program.--Conventional Wisdom

In her career she has been inducted into three Hall of Fames: The Washington University Sports in 2012 (the first NCAA Division III representative), the Missouri Sports in 2014, and the St. Louis Sports in 2016.

That's nice, but a headline calling her a HOF coach seems pretty silly.

In her career she has been inducted into three Hall of Fames: The Washington University Sports in 2012 (the first NCAA Division III representative), the Missouri Sports in 2014, and the St. Louis Sports in 2016.

That's nice, but a headline calling her a HOF coach seems pretty silly.

Mark Trakh should definitely be considered for a P5 position ... the only reason he was fired at USC was a cascade of injuries, most notably to Jacki Gemelos.

New Mexico State is now a power in the WAC, and that's an amazing feat.

You're giving him too much credit. Even with all the injuries, he could never translate his Mid Major success to a P5 conference. He had multiple McD's All Americans and still struggled in a much weaker Pac 12.

Two of those Mickey's girls -- Jacki Gemelos and Stefanie Gilbreath -- did not play a minute in Trakh's last two seasons due to knee injuries. Not too many programs can lose one of the greatest players of her generation (Gemelos) and a WNBA-caliber player and still compete in a BCS conference.

Trakh was 90-64 at USC, and took over a program in disarray after Chris Gobrecht's time in charge.

His first year at New Mexico State, he was 6-24, and now the Las Cruces (not exactly a recruit magnet) school has gone 69-19 in the last three years.

Okay I'll bite. Trakh also had Eshaya Murphy and Briana Gilbreath who went on to the WNBA, great guards such as Ashley Corral, Camille Lenoir and Hailey Dunham, not to mention they had full rosters most years. And yet, in a much weaker Pac-10, he could not Get into the NCAA tourney even once. At least one of those years during his tenure, only Stanford had more talent. As I mentioned before, he does great at mid majors, but USC should not go backwards by hiring him again. He would do worse now.

You may want to check your facts on Trakh's tenure at USC. After 8 years of absence, Trakh took his first two teams at USC to the 2005 and 2006 NCAA Tournaments respectively. In 2005, they beat Louisville in 1st round and then lost by 2 to Michigan State in the second round. In 2006, they got blown out by Duke in the second round who went on to lose in an overtime NCAA final to Maryland. Trakh did not return to the NCAA tournament that last three years of his contract with USC which was why it was not renewed.

He had the most recruiting success of any coach at USC since Marianne Stanley had in the early 90's. Trakh would be a great coach to return to USC and it was a mistake that he left.

The financial offer would be a considerable raise, especially considering that she’s still a young, behind-the-bench assistant on Gregg Popovich’s staff. Nevertheless, Hammon is grappling with the decision, because she has been determined to stay on course to become the NBA’s first female head coach, league sources said.

She would also be richly compensated, assuredly. Amanda Butler, who spent 10 years with Florida before being let go in early March, was making nearly $400,000 in reported guaranteed compensation as of 2015, surely a sum at least double (and maybe triple) what Hammon is currently being paid. But that package was good only for 12th in the SEC, where three women’s basketball coaches were making at least $750,000 in 2015, and none of those three was Tennessee’s Holly Warlick.

Quote:

I wouldn’t expect any definitive movement on Hammon one way or the other until at least the completion of Florida’s men’s team’s NCAA Tournament game on Friday night, and probably not until after the weekend. But it’s clear, with none other than Wojnarowski now involved in the reporting of this story, that Hammon’s ultimate decision is more likely to come sooner than later.

Florida is absolutely a job Hammon should take if she wants to be a women's college basketball head coach. Hard to ask for a better starting point than at a flagship university, in a P5 conference, with some history to sell and plenty of talent in its backyard.

Florida is absolutely a job Hammon should take if she wants to be a women's college basketball head coach. Hard to ask for a better starting point than at a flagship university, in a P5 conference, with some history to sell and plenty of talent in its backyard.

But does she? I think that's the question she's wrestling with.

_________________Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohows permanent.
It takes 3 years to build a team and 7 to build a program.--Conventional Wisdom

So is next weekend at the Final 4 where a lot of interviews will go down? Maybe after next weekend we will see some more jobs filled.

Probably a few more open too.....

Maybe ones open that are due to a coach leaving for another job, but at this stage will there really be any more firings? The season has been over for most teams that did not have good seasons (i.e. not making postseason) so why wait weeks to fire them? Wouldn't it be over by now?

So is next weekend at the Final 4 where a lot of interviews will go down? Maybe after next weekend we will see some more jobs filled.

Probably a few more open too.....

Maybe ones open that are due to a coach leaving for another job, but at this stage will there really be any more firings? The season has been over for most teams that did not have good seasons (i.e. not making postseason) so why wait weeks to fire them? Wouldn't it be over by now?

Not necessarily. Stuff happens all the time. Retirements, illnesses, you name it.......not just firings.

_________________Don't take life so serious. It ain't nohows permanent.
It takes 3 years to build a team and 7 to build a program.--Conventional Wisdom

The financial offer would be a considerable raise, especially considering that she’s still a young, behind-the-bench assistant on Gregg Popovich’s staff. Nevertheless, Hammon is grappling with the decision, because she has been determined to stay on course to become the NBA’s first female head coach, league sources said.

Ya, take the Florida job. Love that kid, but....reality doesn't bode well for THAT dream of hers.

The financial offer would be a considerable raise, especially considering that she’s still a young, behind-the-bench assistant on Gregg Popovich’s staff. Nevertheless, Hammon is grappling with the decision, because she has been determined to stay on course to become the NBA’s first female head coach, league sources said.

Ya, take the Florida job. Love that kid, but....reality doesn't bode well for THAT dream of hers.

Is this the first male coach Florida WBB has had? It's the first one I remember.

From the link

Quote:

"On Monday, the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year and two-time league champion was hired to become the 10th women's head basketball coach in University of Florida history and the first male to hold the title. His contract is for five years."

Neighbors has a $1 million buy out and I think they said McGuff had a $1.7 million buy out? Neighbors was paid $350,000 so Washington got almost eight years worth of coaching salary just from two coaches leaving. Not bad at all.

I still think its hard to judge Neighbors. McGuff was the HC when Plum, Osahor, and Collier committed. Look at Washington's recruiting since, it has not been good, so whoever replaces Neighbors is not inheriting a strong roster.

Can he recruit the players he needs to win at Arkansas? Its a win the press conference hire but I still think there's an element of unknown when you hire a coach who won with someone else's recruits. Yes, he was on staff at Washington but the difference in recruiting since he became HC seems obvious.

No surprise here. I get it. I just feel bad for Ruiz and Kingma, who have to go through this all over again. If the announcement of his departure comes tomorrow, however, at least Neighbors has been more straightforward than his predecessor was.

I think the Neighbors move is a done deal ... but that means a very good job is open at Washington. The cupboard may be bare this coming year, but Seattle is a very attractive city to live in, the facilities are good, the administration appears committed enough to women's basketball, there's plenty of talent on the West Coast and the Pac-12 is a good league.

All in all, in fact, I think Washington is a better job than Arkansas, though it may take some time to get UW back in high gear. (Arkansas, I don't think, has ever been in high gear ...)